According to his inner circle, Qaddafi has no intention of cutting a deal to leave the country. Airstrikes and starvation will continue. Nic Robertson believes this is one of the many propaganda volleys we'll be seeing during Libya's civil war.

Who's gonna tell Qaddafi he has to do this? No one's even sure who could do that; perhaps one of his sons—there seems some distance from this kind of thing...

So the government says these reports are utter nonsense:

That's the government position, that they'll continue with [the airstrikes], they'll retake many of the towns and cities in the east before they, in their terms, force some talks on the rebels. They'll do it from a position of strength when they feel the country's close to being unified.

Yeah—good luck with that, chums.